News
02.12.2011
EBRD pledges more resources to primary agriculture development in Ukraine
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is continuing its drive to develop Ukraine’s agriculture by providing long-term financing to local commodity producers and exporters.
Through this latest transaction the Bank is planning to channel up to US$ 10 million into the expansion of AgroGeneration, a company that produces cereal and oilseeds commodities in Ukraine and which is listed on the NYSE/ Alternext-Euronext exchange.
AgroGeneration is a Paris-based company, which primarily operates in Ukraine, where it has 6 farms on 50,000 hectares of land in the north-western part of Ukraine, plans to use this loan to renovate and acquire agricultural storage, drying, loading and field equipment and generally to expand its operations.
The EBRD financing contributes towards AgroGeneration’s strategy of increasing its arable land to 100,000 hectares by the end of 2012 as well to increase number of silos it operates throughout the country. The project also includes a possibility for the EBRD to become a shareholder of AgroGeneration.
Gilles Mettetal, EBRD Director for Agribusiness, said: “Since the beginning of 2011 we have already signed 9 transactions in this sector in Ukraine worth over €150 million. This shows our commitment to the sector and to Ukraine, which is poised to regain its position of a major breadbasket in the world”.
In the agribusiness sector alone, the EBRD has directly committed more than €7 billion in over 440 projects across central and eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States since 1991.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the largest financial investor in Ukraine. As of 1 September 2011, the Bank had committed over €6.7 billion (US$ 9 billion) through 281 projects.
